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Doing some reading during this holiday break, I came across the Runner’s World article on runner’s shrines, and it leads with Pre’s Rock in Eugene Oregon. It got me thinking about my very first sports hero, Steve Prefontaine.
During my middle school days my family lived in the Coos Bay area along the Oregon Coast. My dad worked in the school district and my mom in a shrimp cannery. My days were spent heading up and down the treed hills and ridges of the area with my buddies. We were mountain biking and trail riding before there was a name for such a thing.
I lived in North Bend, and just up the bay was our rivals at Marshfield High School. Our schools were energetic rivals, but we all came together to cheer a short young man who ran like the furies were after him: Steve Prefontaine. Young Steve simply destroyed local competition, and was recruited by Bill Bowerman to join his powerhouse University of Oregon track teams.
The thing was, Steve Prefontaine wasn’t really that fast. Yeah, he could run with world-class athletes, but in the 5K and 10K races of world competition the winners almost always were the ones with the swiftest kick, the final burst of speed. Steve could never do that, so he simply started running as fast as he could, and kept on running until he couldn’t run anymore. Behind him would be the defeated speedsters that couldn’t match his sheer heart.
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In the Munich Olympics I remember two things about Steve. One was watching his 5,000 meter race, with my heart falling in my chest as Steve was boxed in, unable to get out front and push the pace. Even with two laps to go I knew that my hero would lose that day. He finished in third place for a bronze medal.
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The second was the US Olympic team staying by their televisions as the Palestinian terrorist attack played out, with Steve translating the coverage for his teammates (his mother was of German extraction).
Steve Prefontaine was 24, at the very beginning of what promised to be a unique and memorable career as a distance runner. And yeah, he was the home town hero that made young teens like me dream, and dream big.
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Then one day in home room class another student walked in, first hour, and simply said, “Pre’s dead.” We were students, filled with our young youthful belief in our own indestructibility. And now the ferociously competitive, indomitable Steve Prefontaine was dead of a car accident on a curving road in the hills of Eugene.
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And so now people go to “Pre’s Rock” and leave something there. To many of us, he is a reminder to live every moment to your fullest. His legacy is that no life is too short to mean something if you live every day like today could be your last. Perhaps the greatest thing about Steve is he has left us with a dazzling array of quotes and images that inspires me every day.
As I look towards a new year, it is a fantastic message to remember.
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Filed under: goals, Holidays, running Tagged: Bowerman, competition, Eugene, holiday, Olympics, Oregon, Prefontaine, quotes Image may be NSFW.
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